Letters to the editor: Saturday, June 17, 2017

Bruce Fisher, of Norwood, says Hobart Road through Kings Meadows has been disrupted enough with roadworks and traffic lights.

Hobart Road

APPARENTLY the Launceston City Council is to put a row of trees down the middle of Hobart Road Kings Meadows from the Hotel to McDonalds. Whose idea was this and at what cost? Hobart Road through Kings Meadows has been disrupted enough and now at peak times, traffic can be banked up from Six Ways to Opossum Road all because of four sets of traffic lights.

Also my understanding is that the council is to install electronic advertising around the boundary of the University of Tasmania Stadium. The cost is said to be more than $100,000 and guess who will be paying, the generous ratepayers of the Launceston municipality. The reason given, Cricket Australia demands that any cricket matches played outside Capital Cities have electronic advertising around the ground, and this dear reader is for one cricket game.

I hope our Mayor, Albert van Zetten, is right in saying that he reckons 19,000 people will turn up. Remember before the last AFL game here he said on TV that over 11,000 tickets had been sold, how many turned up? Nowhere near that figure. Please Mayor what about telling the people what you are intending to do.

Bruce Fisher, Norwood.

TasWater

MR DOUG Chipman’s article (The Examiner, May 30) is extremely enlightening and should be a wake-up call to all ratepayers. As president of the Local Government Association of Tasmania and Clarence Council mayor, he would appear to have a vested interest in TasWater along with other mayors and council representatives.

This proposed state government takeover is long overdue as council’s have had their opportunity and failed in their duty to the community on health and safety over many, many years to attend to these matters of water and sewerage and these problems still exist to this day in the 21st Century.

It could well be a view that local government has failed miserably in this area and is still failing us today. Nevermind that the Northern Midlands Council has given to the LGAT $10,000 to fight this state government takeover. Ratepayers money just given away, one could well ask why?

Sewerage for example, still overflows from previously council-owned sewerage ponds in or near inland towns today and this effluent is still directed into lakes, creeks and streams nearby. These waterways then join rivers and these rivers then flow into the sea, past and through major cities including Launceston.

So inland farms and towns obtain water and dispose of sewerage via the rivers and creeks. These are contaminated from upstream and this applies to Launceston with water from St Patrick’s river along with West Tamar from Trevallyn Dam.

One only has to look back at the Tamar River testing results in the 1980’s of which Launceston City Council should still hold detailed data. Why does Mr Chipman and LGAT council members wish the same contaminated systems to continue throughout our state and how can you possibly defend such a viewpoint and policy?

F. Deane, Evandale.

Viewpoint

FIFTEEN years ago while on a family outing with a newborn, my beloved dog went missing on the property adjoining Viewpoint near Barton. As the sun set we reluctantly turned for home.

A farmer caught us up and said "I might have your dog". He had spent some considerable time coaxing and reassuring my timid furry guy but had managed to secure him in the bitch's cage. In an area where sheep abound it was so fortunate that my dog was spared a bullet by a kind stranger.

My dog lived for many more years and was loved so much. Hearing this morning sad news about Viewpoint being destroyed by fire takes me back to that day. So sorry to hear and I hope the farmer and his family are safe and some kindness visits them soon.